A New Dawn (aka A Wing and a Prayer)
by akaeve
Summary: Written as a tag for Better Angels, so a missing lifetime.
1. Prologue

Written as a tribute to Ralph Waite after seeing Better Angels.

**Prologue:**

With the departure of the 17th Bomb Group, the mission of McChord Field became more supporting with the Army Air Forces Training Commands horror, had taught himself to fly. Crop dusting the fields from this, and then a Piper J-3 Cub, which the local co-operative had clubbed together to buy. It was a known fact that at the start of the war the majority of pilots had flown one of these Cubs, it was a training machine.

Jack was a strapping lad, the fresh air of the land; the hands on manual work had made him tall and muscled for his age, he had no trouble convincing the recruitment off of his ability. They, on the other hand knew that at least this lad was capable of flying a plane so less training, they let him enlist.

But instead of being sent to the Pacific, Jackson was trained on a P43 Lancer and was told his orders would be 55th fighter group, which was part of 8th Air Force currently located at RAF High Wycombe, three operational squadrons, made the move to England: the 38th, 338th, and the 343rd. So, by August 1943, the new recruits had finished with their stateside training and began the preparations for the transatlantic deployment to England, and this was how one newly commissioned 2nd Lieutenant Jackson Gibbs, left McChord Air Force Base on the 1stt September 1943 for New York.

Departing New York on 5th September 1943, as part of a convoy to Britain, he and his fellow pilots, embarked on the HMS Orion. This ship could normally carry 1,500 persons across the ocean, but for this trip, 300 officers and 3,200 enlisted men made the voyage, to England and new adventures.


	2. Arrival in Britain

The transatlantic crossing was pretty uneventful, but off the coast of Ireland, the convoy split, those merchant ships going to Liverpool, Bristol or Tilbury, but some headed for the Firth of Clyde and Glasgow, this was where the HMS Orion was now headed, Scotland.

2nd Lieutenant "Butterbars" Gibbs, as he was affectionately called by his fellow pilots, wondered if this place was going to be friendly. As they approached the Clyde estuary, he saw that the merchant vessels were steaming on, they were headed elsewhere.

"Where we headed?" he asked a fellow GI.

"Heard some place called Goorack (Gourock) the guy replied with a New York twang.

"That anywhere near where we are headed?" as Jack looked out over the Scottish hills which, in the autumn September sun gave the heather on the hills a beautiful purple haze, it was really warming after the grey sea crossing.

"Nope we still got a train journey," as the soldier now turned and walked away.

All Jackson could do, was gaze out over the landscape; it didn't look too bad a country. So different from his own flat prairie farmland, but young 2nd Lieutenant Gibbs would soon feel at home when they did eventually arrive at their destination, in the meantime, on the 15th September 1943 they docked in Gourock and were immediately put on a train for Glasgow Central, where they changed on to another, for the journey to Nuthampstead. The train, the carriages, 8 men to a compartment, their personal belongings slung overhead, it was going to be a long night. The aircraft? Flown south by experienced pilots, the Air Force didn't want to lose any, well not quite yet.

As Jack dosed, he thought of the past few weeks. Lying about his age, but almost 17yrs old he was a Commissioned Officer, just. He had 40hrs basic military flying training behind him, but more if he counted the plane back home, yes he had the makings of a good pilot. Bombers he hadn't wanted, he was young, a dare-devil, a fighter pilot he was his own Boss, well as much as you can be in the services but it was his own destiny, in his own hands. Next morning they pulled into Bishop's Stortford and then the troop trucks to the base.

The construction of the camp, had just been recently completed, and what with the rains, mud was in abundance so it had promptly been named Mudhampstead, but at least it was a base and he could get on with the job in hand. The accommodation, Nissen huts, corrugated semi-circular tubes, Quonset huts back home, freezing in the winter stifling in the summer, but being Officers there was more space, less crowded. But for now the 55th Fighter Group had arrived in England and was part of the 8th Air Force


	3. England, September 1943

South East England, the wheat fields of England, it did remind Jackson of home, but as the golden harvests eased into the beginning of a cold winter, Jackson began to feel homesick. The 55th fighter group was split into fighter squadrons and Jackson had been assigned to 343 fighter squadron, the code "CY". The other pilots had been laughing, the station call sign for Nuthampstead was "Rockcreek", and the guys who had lived around Washington D.C. it, well, it reminded them of home, the Group call sign "Careful", which they were or tried to be.

The airfield was designed in the typical bomber base design with three runways and a perimeter track all the way around with aircraft parking stubs along the perimeter track. The base itself sat at an elevation of some 460 feet and was close enough to London to see some of the bombing inflicted, and of course the antiaircraft shells exploding in the night sky.

During the autumn, the Group mission was to provide long range escort for the bombers of the 8th Air Force using the Lockheed P-38 with two 165 gallon auxiliary fuel tanks. The Lightning, as the P-38H was called arrived September 21, 1943, to the delight of the pilots, a real plane. It would be some time before they had our full complement of aircraft.

October 14, 1943 saw a second raid to Regensburg and Schweinfurt with the loss of 60 heavy bombers of the 8th Air Force leaving no doubt that an escort was essential to cut losses. The following day, on October 15, 1943, the 55th Fighter Group became operational, even though all the aircraft had not arrived. They flew sorties over the French countryside and monitored the North Sea Fleet. It was all good flying practice, making hours up, but they were flying the heavy LockheedP-38 Lightning, it just wasn't so maneuverable, but it was training.

The winter of 1943 was one of the worst weathers in over 50 years and the P-38 developed problems with turbo superchargers, engine oiling, and cockpit heating, which had not occurred in the Pacific or the Mediterranean where they were flown at much lower altitudes. These problems caused numerous aborted flights and left the squadron pilots freezing and out-numbered in combat. But with these problems the group still destroyed or damaged some 50 enemy aircraft. That winter 343squadron had 30 pilots killed in action, 17became prisoners of war, 2 were killed in accidents, 2 ditched in the channel but were recovered, and 3 who were shot down but evaded capture.

The P-38 escorted deeper and deeper into Germany as the war progressed and they added strafing, a practice of attacking ground targets from low-flying aircraft using aircraft-mounted automatic weapons, dive bombing, and medium altitude level bombing on vehicles, airfields, and communication targets. The 55th pioneered the use of the "Droop Snoot". A P-38 with the guns removed and a bombing nose, with a Norden Bomb Sight and provision for a bombardier. Loaded with bombs and flying formation on the Snoot they dropped their bombs at the same time.

On March 3, 1944 the P-38s from the 55th Fighter Group on sortie failed to get the recall message and flew on to Berlin and became the first allied fighter over that city. Jackson was in his element.

As the winter began to wane, and March entered into April, the squadron was on the move again. April 16th and into the 17th, the 55th Fighter Group moved to Wormingford , near Colchester, in Essex, England, this was where they would be based until the end of the war, or at least the war in Europe.


	4. England April 1944

Once a week, there was a dance in the local Church Hall, and if the service men were not on duty, they would attend. It wasn't so much for romance just friendship, company on his part. Many of his fellow pilots did start romances.

"Where you from, as you talk funny?" one of the land army girls asked in a cockney accent.

"Could say the same about you, but what did you say you were called?" Jackson had laughed.

"Bella, I got evacuated from London, from the East End, back in early 1940," the girl replied, "They were needing girls for the farms, I thought I'd stay on when a lot of the girls went back, I liked the fresh air, the smoke and grim of the city was always so grey, at least here there is colour."

"How old are you?" Jackson now enquired.

"Turned 17 last month, but you? And where did you say you came from?" Bella laughed.

"Stillwater, Pennsylvania."

"Never heard of it."

"America," Jackson continued, "I worked on the family farm back home, so know all about the fresh air."

"Oh yeah, lot of my friends dated GI's as they called themselves, some never came back, but still the girls had something to remind they, they left a little something, if you get my meaning," Bella added a glint in her eye.

"I wouldn't do that to you."

"Oh yea, you got a wife back home?" Bella continued.

"Nope, writing to my high school sweetheart, but maybe if I get out of here alive."

"How old are you Jackson," Bella now asked."

"Twenty."

"Nope make you younger, you beat the system?"

"Could say that, but hey they're playing our tune we gotta dance," as Jackson pulled Bella onto the dance floor.

-oOo-

As April turned to May, there were rumblings of an invasion of France. The June 6th D-Day assault saw a total of 171 squadrons from both the British and the American Airforces in support of the invasion. 15 provided shipping cover, 54 provided beach cover while 33 undertook bomber escort. Another 33 struck at targets inland from the landing area while a further 36 provided direct air support to the invading forces.

The Marine Corps and the Army lost many men, despite intensive air attacks by the Eighth Air Force's B-17sa and B-24s, it was only the subsequent success of the fighter bombers operating against the battlefield that went on to prove that the fighter bomber was more valuable in supporting and attacking than the heavy bombers. The Lightning, although cumbersome, had helped, but the 343 squadron need something better. It wasn't until July 1944 a month after D-day, that the 55th FG, 343 squadron got its P-51D Mustangs. Jackson was at last happy.


	5. The War in Europe 1944 - 45

As the war in Europe progressed, the Allies pushing further into France and then Germany, the 343 squadron and its Mustangs continued to escort the B-17 and B-24 bombers so they could attack such targets as the heavy industry, and marshalling yards of Germany, as well as the airfields and V-weapons silos in France.

The 343 squadron attacked gun emplacements and on the 18th July helped the 116th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army's 29th Division liberate the city of Saint-Lo.

The unit received a "Distinguished Unit Citation" for eight missions to Germany between 3 and 13 September 1944 when the group, not only destroyed enemy fighters in the air to protect the bombers it was escorting, but also descended to low levels, in spite of intense anti-aircraft fire, to strafe airfields and to destroy enemy aircraft on the ground. Jackson and his fellow pilots were in their element.

But it was during the Battle of the Bulge which covered the two months, of December '44 into January '45, when the group patrolled the airs over the Channel and strafied trucks and oil depots well into Holland.

Had it not been back in early 1944, that General James Doolittle, had told the fighters to stop flying in formation with the bombers and instead attack the Luftwaffe where ever it could be found. So the Mustang groups were sent in before the bombers in a "fighter sweep" intercepting German fighters while they were forming up. As a result the Luftwaffe lost 17% of its fighter pilots in just one week. By doing this the Allies established air supremacy, Dootlittle was later quoted as to say, that when Adolf Galland, who was the most famous and dashing of all the Luftwaffe aces , saw the day that the fighters were taken off the bombers and put against the German fighters, the defensive went to offensive, said "Germany had lost the air war". This was how the Mustangs now flew.

The 55th FG received its second DUC for operations on the 19th February. The squadron had flown a sweep over Germany hitting railway tracks, locomotives buildings and other military targets. But on this occasion it looked like Jackson's luck had finally run out. The Luftwaffe may have been on the run, but there was always a rogue fighter around, that and the fact, never trust your instruments.

-oOo-

Jackson was on his way home, he had no ammo left, but out in the clouds he saw an enemy plane approach, it fired at CY-D, one bullet hit Jack in the shoulder, the rest of the round he didn't know, until he looked at the compass.

Over his radio he shouted "Compass is in-op. Co-ordinates unknown. Request assistance, Ahh." As the seat strap touched his shot shoulder.

But then he saw that the gas gage was beginning to drop, and looking back, over his injured shoulder, he saw the plume of smoke from the rear of the plane, had he been hit, struggling to control the damaged Mustang in the heavy clouds he continued to call "Golden Angel Four to all stations," he radios, "I've been hit. Do you read me? Over!"

As Jackson watched the propeller of his plane spin, here he was in the thick of it. His engine damaged, he was over enemy land, and almost out of fuel.

"Hell," Jackson muttered as he saw a second plane approach, the balkenkreuz and the swastika emblems of the Luftwaffe, "OK, I'm now a sitting duck and going to be finished off," as he looked over, the plane began to turn and follow his own. "He can't even look me in the eye when he's going to kill me off," Jack now thought, before he saw the enemy come along side. Jack looked at the pilot who was waving his hands indicating circles. Jackson looked down at his compass it was going crazy just circling, he now knew what the pilot meant, and he was off course and heading towards Germany, he needed to turn round. The pilot made a turn to the left, Jackson followed.  
Jackson, flew across the countryside, wing tip to wing tip, with the pilot, his plane still sputtering and smoking, when his radio crackled into life.

"This is Raydon Tower. Do you read, over?" he heard a friendly English voice say.

"Raydon Tower, that's a roger," Jackson replied.

He turned to face the enemy and solemnly saluted.

The pilot saluted in return, then peeled away to return to his own base.

Jackson watched him fly away, then looking forward, he recognized the White Cliffs of Dover, just across the English Channel.

"Raydon Tower, this is Golden Angel Four. I'm headed home."

TBC


	6. Demob and the Future

**Demob and the future**

The squadron's 175th and last combat mission in a P-51, was flown on 21st April 1945, the day after the American and Soviet forces met at the Elbe River. Jackson had been recuperating; he had been given a desk job, much to his dismay.

V-E Day or Victory in Europe Day was celebrated on 8th May 1945, this was to mark the formal acceptance of Germany's unconditional surrender, thus ending the War in Europe. Jackson was demobbed and sent home.

But Jackson thought about the pilot who saved him, it would be many years into the future that he would know the name of the pilot, but one important thing for sure was, they had both been fliers. They had both, for a moment been brothers, they had been the same. Different sides but the same.

The 55th Fighter Group moved to AAF Station Kaufbeuren Germany on 22 July 1945 as part of the occupation forces. The 55th FG flew over 600 missions, the group had destroyed over 400 enemy aircraft while damaging more than 100, it had received two Distinguished Unit Citations for the period between September 3rd and 13th 1944 and on February 19th 1945. 181 of their aircraft were reported as Missing In Action. The involvement of the 55th FG on September 11th, 1944, on a mission meant many separate combats had been achieved with involvements from of all of four squadrons, the 343 being only one part. Their pilots had won many victories, but also lost four P-51s, they were Missing In Action, by the end of this day.

**Prologue**

After all Jackson had seen in Europe, in the war, when he came home he immediately asked Ann marry him, she had said yes, but then again he never knew that over in the Pacific, the war there wouldn't finish until 15th August and that his friend Leroy Jethro Moore had also been writing to Ann.

It was when Leroy, by this time an Iwo Jima veteran, came home, he had to watch his best friend marry the girl, he too loved.

**The End**


End file.
